Welcome to HVAC-Talk.com, a non-DIY site and the ultimate Source for HVAC Information & Knowledge Sharing for the industry professional! Here you can join over 150,000 HVAC Professionals & enthusiasts from around the world discussing all things related to HVAC/R. You are currently viewing as a NON-REGISTERED guest which gives you limited access to view discussions

To gain full access to our forums you must register; for a free account. As a registered Guest you will be able to:

Participate in over 40 different forums and search/browse from nearly 3 million posts.

I'm new in the hvac field and in need of choosing a laser thermometer, but overwhlemed with all the different brands and price ranges. Which model is reliable and will not break me. Thanks for all your input.

Raytek Raynger ST with center beam and 8 beam circle. You really impress the customer with technoligy they can see. WOW. About 150. to 200. range in cost. Not found in any drug stores. Should only break you for a week or so.

I own and recomend the Raytek ST30. Johnstone number H25-814. I bought mine a year and a half ago and has served me quite well during that time. It has never dissapointed me.

I paid two fifty at that time.
I also carry a non laser infra red thermometer the size of a car alarm key fob.
I wear it on a retractable string on my shirt pocket. This I use for quickie temp measurements.

The Raytek I use for anything of distance or greater accuracy.

I have tested the emisissivity of them both and found maybe one degree of dif between them.

I find this same descrepancy between my Fluke temp meter and the Raytek.
I use the Raytek for superheat and subcooling measurements also.
If I am going to be there awhile, I will clamp on my Fluke. Otherwise, I simply pull the trigger of the Raytek, or push the button on the little guy.
The litle one I dont use for register measurement up in the ceiling grills. The Raytek I do.
It displays a clear red dot pattern of exactly where I am taking my measurement from.
The little guy dont work that way.

I measure product temps, room temps, line temps.. simple up close and personal stuff. (the little one)

If I had the money, I woundt flinch at spending a grand on an infra red meter.
In our industry, temp is everything.

Once your measured a sizzling circuit breaker with an infra red thermometer ... your sold on them.

I was so against these. Till I read up on them, and bought a ST30 from Raytech. For the first say month I owned it I was always nervous about trusting it, and would always verify the infared with my fluke clamp meter and or temp meters. I have three of those. It was always dead on or with in a degree or two. Unless it's a really shiny object it's pretty close for me. I love mine and use it all the time, and still every now and then I yank out any of my temp meters just to verify. It's a great tool.

But the cheaper ones. They all out suck. You need to find the ones with/in 1% accuracy. Never more than 2 degrees off. They cost you a couple more bucks.

Originally posted by bmf they only read the surface temp and not air temp right?? cause i would like to get one when i get back to work for

superheat and subcool. i usually do commercial stuff so no
customers around to impress but it would make life easier

If you purchase them for superheat and subcooling,the cheaper way would to be dump 30# of freon in the unit, doesnt matter if they are 5 ton or 150 ton, they are not accurate enough to read, they are good for "ballparking" something, like I use my for VAV troubleshooting and calibrating but I highly reccomend they are never used for superheat and subcooling